Cristina's Finally Baptized!

I can’t believe it happened (that is how I feel after every baptism) but Cristina and Luis got baptized! Yay! It was a CRAZY week. After Luis passed his interview (yes, he passed and remembered most things) we received a horrible phone call from Cristina telling us that Shadha’s dad said she couldn’t get baptized. I was so sad and mad at the same time. On Friday we spent most of the afternoon prepping Shadha to talk to her dad again. Her practices went amazingly. Jesus came over to give her a blessing and also practice.

At first the phone call was fantastic. Then he started changing and getting really mean, then Cristina took over. Shadha was crying. But Jesus really gave some sweet words of advice. Then we were able to head to the stake center and President Miller talked with Cristina. He will be speaking with the church attorneys this week and seeing if there is anything that we can do about it. Also Cristina got her baptismal interview, because she still wanted to go through with the baptism which we are super happy about. She can NOT let him ruin this for her. Shadha was super bummed. Poor sweet little girl.

We had a nice dinner with Maribel Varela this week. She wants to be on the Amazing Race so they made an adorable video to apply. She is such a strong woman. Her husband Richard goes to that same Christian church as Armando (Jasmine’s husband)…kind of tricky. BUT it will be fantastic to get Maribel and Jasmine together. J They were friends growing up and kind of are in the same situation.

President came and did interviews with us on Friday. During my interview with President, he didn’t know/remember that I had originally trained Sister Gubeli. That is quite funny, because we already were together three transfers. I am going to finish my mission not having had too many different companions.

The baptism went pretty well. J There is always something that has to go wrong. This time it was Luis not being there. We had talked to the Avilas about picking up Luis, so when Hermano Avila got here without Luis I was extremely terrified. We waited for quite a while before someone could go and get him and bring him back. The bishop made us start without him being there. I played the opening hymn very slowly. J Then thank goodness he showed up! That made me so very happy. We were able to get him all dressed and everything ready.

 

Both baptisms went very nicely. With Luis he had to kneel down and go forward. I think that is what all older people should do. It is too hard to do anything else. So many people came to support. The best part was Hermana Fallentine showing up! We hugged and cried and laughed. We are the best of friends. Boy do I miss her. Apparently this is the first missionary that has been allowed to go to baptismal service in their old area...so shhh!!!!  J Jesus got flowers for both Cristina and Shadha. Magda (Cristina’s friend) loved it! She said that we had such a special spirit. That God put something really special in us. Also Hermano Torres and his less active wife showed up! That was amazing!  Also Roberto showed up…he is a hoot!

Sunday morning was crazy! Cristina couldn’t find her car keys, which ended up being a blessing because Magda came to church with us. We helped them look all over. Turns out that Shadha had put them on the washer. Good times! We made it just in time to pick up Luis with Hermana Arrue. We had to take his food with us. We made it to church about two minutes before it started. I hate doing that, especially because I had to play the piano. I was so stressed out about Cristina not being there, that I could hardly play the right notes. I don’t really care that much, but I just kept looking to try and see if Cristina had come. She made it in time though.

The confirmation was very beautiful. She said that when they put their hands on her head that she felt something rushing through every part of her body and that she felt very peaceful. It was beautiful. Then Hermano Torres confirmed Luis. After sacrament meeting, Shadha went straight to her class even though she knew they had to leave to take their friend Magda back to Juarez. Shadha just wanted to stay for all of church. It was quite scary though, because we could not find her and we didn’t see her in Primary. After frantically searching, we finally found her in her little classroom with Anahi. They are best friends. She was wearing the cute little pink CTR ring I gave her.

We had two AWESOME noches de hogar last night. One was with the Beltran’s, Cristina and Shadha, and the other with Karina, Esli Lopez and the Gamez family.  I want to invite you all to read your patriarchal blessings. I read mine the other day after a while and it really made me happy. It is like personal scripture. I have been able to testify of it in many lessons this week.  Sure love you all!